Injection molding system

ABSTRACT

Types of molded articles carried by a carrier are identified and the molded articles are sorted based on image-related information for the molded articles molded based on set operating conditions for injection molding machines and molded article images acquired by an image acquisition unit. It is thus possible to narrow down candidate images in processing in a molded article identification unit, thereby making it possible to construct an injection molding system that has excellent production efficiency with a reduced load on processing in the molded article identification unit.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to Japanese Application Number2014-206512, filed Oct. 7, 2014, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an injection molding system and moreparticularly to an injection molding system that includes a mechanismfor sorting molded articles from a plurality of injection moldingmachines.

2. Description of the Related Art

In an injection molding factory, when work such as box packing oralignment of molded articles molded by injection molding machines isperformed, such work is usually performed in each injection moldingmachines using a robot or the like. However, when a robot or the like isprovided for each injection molding machine, equipment or maintenancecosts may be high or large installation space may be required.

To reduce costs or installation space, Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 4-330976 discloses a technique by which, in an injectionmolding machine physical distribution system in which a plurality ofinjection molding machines are arranged, articles taken out of theplurality of injection molding machines are carried by a singleconveyor, and the articles taken out of the respective injection moldingmachines are determined by a shape recognition device, a weight-baseddetermination device, and a temperature measurement device.

In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.4-330976 above, the shape recognition device is used to make adetermination by differences in shape, but reference shape data is notsent to the shape recognition device. Therefore, the shape recognitiondevice needs to make a determination among candidate images of all typesof molded articles that may be carried, and a large load may be imposedon processing in the shape recognition device. To reduce an amount ofprocessing in the shape recognition device, it could be considered thatthe shape recognition device recognizes the shape of an actual moldedarticle and creates reference shape data each time a molded article typeis changed. However, there would be another problem in that the creationof shape data must be conducted frequently and is troublesome,especially in high-mix, low-volume production.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an injection moldingsystem that includes a mechanism for sorting molded articles from aplurality of injection molding machines, and has enhanced productionefficiency with a reduced load on processing in a device that sorts themolded articles, in order to solve the above problem.

An injection molding system according to the present invention includes:a plurality of injection molding machines that produce molded articlesbased on preset operating conditions; a carrier that carries the moldedarticles; a storage section that stores, for each molded article type, aset of the operating conditions for the injection molding machines andimage-related information for the molded articles that are associatedwith the operating conditions and are molded in accordance with theoperating conditions; and a molded article sorting section that sortsthe molded articles. The molded article sorting section includes: animage acquisition unit that acquires images of the molded articlescarried by the carrier; a molded article identification unit thatgenerates identification information for identifying types of the moldedarticles carried by the carrier in accordance with the molded articleimages acquired by the image acquisition unit and the image-relatedinformation for the molded articles stored in the storage section; and amolded article sorting unit that sorts the carried molded articles basedon the identification information generated by the molded articleidentification unit.

In the injection molding system according to the present invention, aset of the operating conditions for the injection molding machines andthe image-related information for the molded articles that areassociated with the operating conditions and are molded in accordancewith the operating conditions is stored in the storage section, thetypes of the carried molded articles are identified in accordance withthe molded article images acquired by the image acquisition unit and theimage-related information for the molded articles stored in the storagesection, and the molded articles are sorted. Because the image-relatedinformation for the molded articles associated with the operatingconditions prestored in the storage section can be used for a comparisonwith the molded article images acquired by the image acquisition unit,it is possible to narrow down candidate images in processing in themolded article identification unit. This makes it possible to constructan injection molding system that has excellent production efficiencywith a reduced load on processing in the molded article identificationunit. Further, because the image-related information for the moldedarticles can be set in the molded article identification unit inconjunction with setting of the operating conditions, it is possible foran operator to reduce time and effort during operations and mistakesduring the setting. As the image-related information for the moldedarticles in the present invention, molded article image informationitself, image information identifiers, or other information related tomolded article images may be used.

The storage section may be disposed in each of the injection moldingmachines. The injection molding machine may include a setting sectionthat sets the operating conditions. The storage section may store, asthe image-related information, the image information for the moldedarticles that are molded in accordance with the operating conditions.The image information for the molded articles associated with theoperating conditions set by the setting section may be set in the moldedarticle identification unit.

In this embodiment, each injection molding machine includes the storagesection that stores the image information for the molded articles thatare molded in accordance with the operating conditions, and the imageinformation for the molded articles associated with the operatingconditions is set in the molded article identification unit, therebymaking it possible to narrow down candidate images in processing in themolded article identification unit. Therefore, even when a moldedarticle type is changed, sorting appropriate to the molded article typescan be performed immediately. It is thus possible to construct aninjection molding system that has excellent production efficiency with areduced load on processing in the molded article identification unit.

Further, because the image-related information for the molded articlescan be set in the molded article identification unit in conjunction withsetting of the operating conditions, it is possible for an operator toreduce time and effort during operations and mistakes during thesetting.

The injection molding system may further include a central controldevice that centrally manages the injection molding machines and themolded article identification unit. The central control device mayinclude a setting section that sets the operating conditions in one ofthe injection molding machines. The storage section may be disposed inthe central control device. The storage section may store, as theimage-related information, the image information for the molded articlesthat are molded in accordance with the operating conditions. The imageinformation for the molded articles associated with the operatingconditions set by the setting section may be set in the molded articleidentification unit.

In this embodiment, the central control device includes the storagesection that stores the image information for the molded articles thatare molded in accordance with the operating conditions, and the imageinformation for the molded articles associated with the operatingconditions is set in the molded article identification unit, therebymaking it possible to narrow down candidate images in processing in themolded article identification unit. Even when a molded article type ischanged, sorting appropriate to the molded article types can beperformed immediately. It is thus possible to construct an injectionmolding system that has excellent production efficiency with a reducedload on processing in the molded article identification unit. Further,because the image-related information for the molded articles can be setin the molded article identification unit in conjunction with setting ofthe operating conditions, it is possible for an operator to reduce timeand effort during operations and mistakes during the setting.

The storage section may be disposed in each of the injection moldingmachines. The injection molding machine may include a setting sectionthat sets the operating conditions. The storage section may store, asthe image-related information, identifiers of the molded articles thatare molded in accordance with the operating conditions. The moldedarticle sorting section may further include an image information storagesection that stores molded article image information associated with theidentifiers. The molded articles may be identified based on the moldedarticle image information that is stored in the image informationstorage section and is associated with the identifiers of the moldedarticles that are molded in accordance with the operating conditions setby the setting section and the molded article images acquired by theimage acquisition unit.

In this embodiment, each injection molding machine includes the storagesection that stores the identifiers of the molded articles that aremolded in accordance with the operating conditions, and the moldedarticle identification unit includes the image information storagesection that stores the molded article image information associated withthe identifiers. The molded articles are identified based on the moldedarticle image information associated with the identifiers of the moldedarticles associated with the operating conditions and the molded articleimages acquired by the image acquisition unit. It is thereby possible tonarrow down candidate images in processing in the molded articleidentification unit. Even when a molded article type is changed, sortingappropriate to the molded article types can be performed immediately. Itis thus possible to construct an injection molding system that hasexcellent production efficiency with a reduced load on processing in themolded article identification unit. Because information transmitted andreceived via communication lines that link the injection moldingmachines and the molded article identification unit is limited toidentifiers, there is no need to transmit image information, which oftenhas a large volume, through the communication line, and a load on thecommunication line can be reduced. Further, because the image-relatedinformation for the molded articles can be set in the molded articleidentification unit in conjunction with setting of the operatingconditions, it is possible for an operator to reduce time and effortduring operations and mistakes during the setting.

The injection molding system may further include a central controldevice that centrally manages the injection molding machines and themolded article identification unit. The central control device mayinclude a setting section that sets the operating conditions in one ofthe injection molding machines. The storage section may be disposed inthe central control device. The storage section may store, as theimage-related information, the identifiers of the molded articles thatare molded in accordance with the operating conditions. The moldedarticle sorting section may further include an image information storagesection that stores the molded article image information associated withthe identifiers. The molded articles may be identified based on themolded article image information that is stored in the image informationstorage section and is associated with the identifiers of the moldedarticles that are molded in accordance with the operating conditions setby the setting section and the molded article images acquired by theimage acquisition unit.

In this embodiment, the central control device includes the storagesection that stores the identifiers of the molded articles that aremolded in accordance with the operating conditions, and the moldedarticle identification unit includes the image information storagesection that stores the molded article image information associated withthe identifiers. The molded articles are identified based on the moldedarticle image information associated with the identifiers of the moldedarticles associated with the operating conditions and the molded articleimages acquired by the image acquisition unit. It is thereby possible tonarrow down candidate images in processing in the molded articleidentification unit. Even when a molded article type is changed, sortingappropriate to the molded article types can be performed immediately. Itis thus possible to construct an injection molding system that hasexcellent production efficiency with a reduced load on processing in themolded article identification unit. Because information transmitted andreceived via a communication lines that link the injection moldingmachines, the central control device, and the molded articleidentification unit is limited to identifiers, there is no need totransmit image information, which often has a large volume, through thecommunication line, and a load on the communication line can be reduced.Further, because the image-related information for the molded articlescan be set in the molded article identification unit in conjunction withsetting of the operating conditions, it is possible for an operator toreduce time and effort during operations and mistakes during thesetting.

Either the molded article identification unit or the molded articlesorting unit may include a counting section that counts a quantity ofmolded articles for each of the types of the sorted molded articles.When the quantity of the molded articles counted by the counting sectionreaches a preset quantity, a preset instruction may be output to theinjection molding machine that produces the molded articles. The presetinstruction may be at least one of an operation stop instruction, awarning output instruction, and an instruction for displaying a warningmessage on a screen.

In this embodiment, the counting section that counts a quantity ofmolded articles for each of the types of the sorted molded articles isprovided. When the counted quantity of the molded articles reaches apreset quantity, a preset instruction such as an operation stopinstruction, a warning output instruction, or an instruction fordisplaying a warning message on a screen is output to any of theinjection molding machines. Thus, the injection molding machines do notproduce a quantity of molded articles more than necessary.

The present invention has the above configurations and can thereforeprovide an injection molding system that includes a mechanism forsorting molded articles from a plurality of injection molding machines,and has enhanced production efficiency with a reduced load on processingin a device that sorts the molded articles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and features of the present invention willbe apparent from the following description of embodiments with referenceto the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an injection molding systemaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the injection molding system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an injection molding systemaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the injection molding system in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An injection molding system according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the injection molding system includes threeinjection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c arranged in parallel.Molded articles (not shown) produced by these injection molding machines10 a, 10 b, and 10 c are carried by a carrier 20, and images of themolded articles carried by the carrier 20 are acquired by an imageacquisition unit 30.

The images of the molded articles acquired by the image acquisition unit30 are input to a molded article identification unit 42. The moldedarticle identification unit 42 is connected to the injection moldingmachines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c, and molded article image informationstored in the injection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c is inputto the molded article identification unit 42. As the molded articleimage information that is stored in the injection molding machines 10 a,10 b, and 10 c and is input to the molded article identification unit42, images generated by taking images of actually molded articles withan image acquisition unit such as a camera or images converted frommodels created based on drawings of molded articles may be used. Thedrawings or the models of the molded articles may be planar andtwo-dimensional or stereoscopic and three-dimensional. The imageinformation may be monochrome or color with color information added.When the color image information is used, it is possible to identifymolded articles that have the same shape and different colors.

The molded articles carried by the carrier 20 are identified and sorted,and then packed in boxes or aligned by the molded article sorting unit44. As the molded article sorting unit 44, an articulated robot or aparallel link robot may be used. When the parallel link robot is used,it is possible to more efficiently sort a large number of moldedarticles and pack the molded article in boxes or align them. The imageacquisition unit 30, the molded article identification unit 42, and themolded article sorting unit 44 are interconnected via a communicationline or the like, and acquired images or identification information canbe mutually input and output.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the injection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and10 c are connected to the molded article identification unit 42 via acommunication line 50, and molded article image information stored inthe injection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c is input to themolded article identification unit 42 through the communication line 50.The image acquisition unit 30 and the molded article identification unit42 are also connected, and the molded article identification unit 42 andthe molded article sorting unit 44 are also connected, via thecommunication line 50. The image acquisition unit 30, the molded articleidentification unit 42, and the molded article sorting unit 44constitute a molded article sorting section 40.

Operation of the injection molding system illustrated in FIG. 2 willnext be described.

The injection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c transmit imageinformation for articles that should be molded to the molded articleidentification unit 42 through the communication line 50 each time atype of a molded article to be produced is changed. The molded articleidentification unit 42 stores the transmitted molded article imageinformation in an internal molded article image information storagesection (not shown).

When molded articles are carried from the injection molding machines 10a, 10 b, and 10 c by the carrier 20, the image acquisition unit 30 takesimages of the carried molded articles and transmits imaging data to themolded article identification unit 42. The molded article identificationunit 42 determines types of the molded articles carried by the carrier20 based on molded article image information that is transmitted inadvance from the injection molding machines and molded article imagedata transmitted from the image acquisition unit 30, and transmitsmolded article type information to the molded article sorting unit 44.The molded article sorting unit 44 sorts the molded articles based onthe transmitted molded article type information.

When such an injection molding system that includes a plurality ofinjection molding machines is constructed, there is no need to provide aset of an image acquisition unit, a molded article identification unit,and a molded article sorting unit for each injection molding machine asin a prior art technique. Only one set of an image acquisition unit, amolded article identification unit, and a molded article sorting unithas to be provided for the plurality of injection molding machines thatconstitutes an injection molding system. Therefore, it is possible topack molded articles in boxes or align them inexpensively as comparedwith a case in which molded articles are packed in boxes or aligned ineach injection molding machine. Molded articles produced by theplurality of injection molding machines are aggregated in one place andpacked in boxes or aligned, and can therefore be moved efficiently to aprocess such as packaging or assembly next to the box packing oralignment. Moreover, it is possible to narrow down candidate images inprocessing in the molded article identification unit, thereby reducing aload in processing in the molded article identification unit.

An injection molding system according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention will next be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and4.

The injection molding system of the second embodiment differs from theinjection molding system of the first embodiment described above in thatthe carrier 20 includes first carriers 22 (connected to the injectionmolding machines) and a second carrier 24 (common to the plurality ofinjection molding machines).

As illustrated in FIG. 3, molded articles produced by the injectionmolding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c are temporarily carried out of theinjection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c by the first carriers 22a, 22 b, and 22 c, and then carried by the second carrier 24 common tothese (three) injection molding machine 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the injection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and10 c are connected to a central control device 60 via the communicationline 50. The central control device 60 and the molded articleidentification unit 42 are also connected via the communication line 50.A set of operating conditions for each of the injection molding machines10 and identifiers of molded article image information is stored in thecentral control device 60. The central control device 60 sets theoperating conditions in the injection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and10 c through the communication line 50, and sets the identifiers of theimage information associated with the set operating conditions in themolded article identification unit 42 through the communication line 50.

The molded article identification unit 42 includes an image informationstorage section 46. The image information storage section 46 storesmolded article image information in association with identifiers of theimage information. When the identifiers of the image information aresent from the central control device 60, the molded articleidentification unit 42 reads the molded article image information fromthe image information storage section 46 based on the identifiers,compares the molded article image information with molded article imagesacquired by the image acquisition unit 30, and decides a destination ofsorting of the molded articles. The molded article sorting unit 44 sortsthe molded articles based on the destination of sorting of the moldedarticles decided by the molded article identification unit 42.

In the injection molding system illustrated in FIG. 4, the imageinformation storage section 46 is disposed in the inside of the moldedarticle identification unit 42. However, the image information storagesection 46 may be disposed in the outside of the molded articleidentification unit 42, the image information storage section 46 and themolded article identification unit 42 may be connected, and the moldedarticle identification unit 42 may read molded article image informationfrom the image information storage section 46. In the injection moldingsystem illustrated in FIG. 4, the image acquisition unit 30, the moldedarticle identification unit 42, the molded article sorting unit 44, andthe image information storage section 46 constitute the molded articlesorting section 40.

Operation of the injection molding system illustrated in FIG. 4 willnext be described.

When a type of an molded article to be produced by the injection moldingmachine 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c is to be changed, the central controldevice 60 sets operating condition for the injection molding machine 10a, 10 b, and 10 c through the communication line 50 and transmitsidentifiers of molded article image information to the molded articleidentification unit 42 through the communication line 50. The moldedarticle identification unit 42 reads the molded article imageinformation from the image information storage section 46 based on thetransmitted identifiers of the molded article image information, andstores the molded article image information in an internal moldedarticle image information storage section (not shown) or the imageinformation storage section 46. Then, when molded articles are carriedby the carrier 20, images of the carried molded articles are taken bythe image acquisition unit 30, and imaging data is transmitted to themolded article identification unit 42. The molded article identificationunit 42 determines types of the carried molded articles based on themolded article image information stored in the internal molded articleimage information storage section or the image information storagesection 46 and the molded article images transmitted from the imageacquisition unit 30, and transmits molded article type information tothe molded article sorting unit 44. The molded article sorting unit 44sorts the carried molded articles based on the transmitted moldedarticle type information.

In the injection molding system of the first embodiment, each of theinjection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c stores molded articleimage information, the molded article image information is transmittedto the molded article identification unit 42 through the communicationline 50, and the molded article image information is compared withmolded article images acquired by the image acquisition unit 30.

On the other hand, in the injection molding system of the secondembodiment, the central control device 60 is provided, the centralcontrol device 60 sets operating conditions for the injection moldingmachines 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c, and the image information storage section46 provided in the molded article identification unit 42 stores moldedarticle image information. Then, the molded article image informationassociated with identifiers of image information transmitted from thecentral control device 60 is read from the image information storagesection 46, and the read image information is compared with moldedarticle images acquired by the image acquisition unit 30.

The features of the first and second embodiments described above may becombined as appropriate. As an example, in the injection molding systemillustrated in FIG. 2 (first embodiment), the molded articleidentification unit 42 may include the image information storage section46, the image information storage section 46 may store molded articleimage information, and the injection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10c may transmit identifiers of image information.

In the injection molding system illustrated in FIG. 4 (secondembodiment), the central control device 60 may store molded articleimage information for the injection molding machines 10 a, 10 b, and 10c, the molded article image information may be transmitted from thecentral control device 60 to the molded article identification unit 42through the communication line 50, and the transmitted molded articleimage information may be compared with molded article images acquired bythe image acquisition unit 30.

The molded article identification unit 42 or the molded article sortingunit 44 may include a counting section (not shown). When the moldedarticle identification unit 42 identifies molded articles or the moldedarticle sorting unit 44 sorts the molded articles and packs the moldedarticles in boxes or align them, the counting section may count aquantity of the molded articles for each molded article type. Aproduction volume may be set for each molded article type. When thequantity of the molded articles reaches the set production volume foreach molded article type, an instruction such as an operation stopinstruction, a warning output instruction, or an instruction fordisplaying a warning message on a screen may be output to the injectionmolding machine 10 that produces the molded articles. Then, theinjection molding machine 10 may stop operation, output a warning, ordisplay a warning message on the screen. Thus, the injection moldingmachines 10 do not produce a quantity of molded articles more thannecessary.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An injection molding system comprising: aplurality of injection molding machines that produce molded articlesbased on preset operating conditions; a carrier that carries the moldedarticles; a storage section that stores, for each molded article type, aset of the operating conditions for the injection molding machines andimage-related information for the molded articles that are associatedwith the operating conditions and are molded in accordance with theoperating conditions; and a molded article sorting section that sortsthe molded articles, the molded article sorting section including animage acquisition unit that acquires images of the molded articlescarried by the carrier, a molded article identification unit thatgenerates identification information for identifying types of the moldedarticles carried by the carrier in accordance with the molded articleimages acquired by the image acquisition unit and the image-relatedinformation for the molded articles stored in the storage section, and amolded article sorting unit that sorts the carried molded articles basedon the identification information generated by the molded articleidentification unit.
 2. The injection molding system according to claim1, wherein the storage section is disposed in each of the injectionmolding machines, and the injection molding machine includes a settingsection that sets the operating conditions, the storage section stores,as the image-related information, the image information for the moldedarticles that are molded in accordance with the operating conditions,and the image information for the molded articles associated with theoperating conditions set by the setting section is set in the moldedarticle identification unit.
 3. The injection molding system accordingto claim 1, further comprising: a central control device that centrallymanages the injection molding machines and the molded articleidentification unit, wherein the central control device includes asetting section that sets the operating conditions in one of theinjection molding machines, the storage section is disposed in thecentral control device, and the storage section stores, as theimage-related information, the image information for the molded articlesthat are molded in accordance with the operating conditions, and theimage information for the molded articles associated with the operatingconditions set by the setting section is set in the molded articleidentification unit.
 4. The injection molding system according to claim1, wherein the storage section is disposed in each of the injectionmolding machines, the injection molding machine includes a settingsection that sets the operating conditions, the storage section stores,as the image-related information, identifiers of the molded articlesthat are molded in accordance with the operating conditions, the moldedarticle sorting section further includes an image information storagesection that stores molded article image information associated with theidentifiers, and the molded articles are identified based on the moldedarticle image information that is stored in the image informationstorage section and is associated with the identifiers of the moldedarticles that are molded in accordance with the operating conditions setby the setting section and the molded article images acquired by theimage acquisition unit.
 5. The injection molding system according toclaim 1, further comprising: a central control device that centrallymanages the injection molding machines and the molded articleidentification unit, wherein the central control device includes asetting section that sets the operating conditions in one of theinjection molding machines, the storage section is disposed in thecentral control device, and the storage section stores, as theimage-related information, the identifiers of the molded articles thatare molded in accordance with the operating conditions, and the moldedarticle sorting section further includes an image information storagesection that stores the molded article image information associated withthe identifiers, and the molded articles are identified based on themolded article image information that is stored in the image informationstorage section and is associated with the identifiers of the moldedarticles that are molded in accordance with the operating conditions setby the setting section and the molded article images acquired by theimage acquisition unit.
 6. The injection molding system according toclaim 1, wherein either the molded article identification unit or themolded article sorting unit includes a counting section that counts aquantity of molded articles for each of the types of the sorted moldedarticles, and when the quantity of the molded articles counted by thecounting section reaches a preset quantity, a preset instruction isoutput to the injection molding machine that produces the moldedarticles.
 7. The injection molding system according to claim 6, whereinthe preset instruction is at least one of an operation stop instruction,a warning output instruction, and an instruction for displaying awarning message on a screen.